ok so I need to tell you something and you CANNOT tell anyone
omg what happened?? 👀
so you know the new team leader, Derek?
yeah the one who started last month
yes him. ok so at the team meeting on friday, he took credit for MY project report. in front of everyone. my name wasn't even mentioned once
WHAT. no way
yes way. I worked on that thing for THREE weeks. he literally just read my slides and acted like they were his ideas
that's awful, I'm so sorry. did you say anything?
no I froze. I didn't know what to do. everyone was nodding and congratulating HIM
honestly dani between us I think he's completely useless as a manager. like he has no idea what he's doing and he just takes other people's work
tbh I've heard other people say the same thing about him
I just don't understand how he even got the job. his CV must have been full of lies
😬 ok that's maybe going a bit far lol
maybe but I'm so angry right now I can't think straight. anyway please don't say anything to anyone ok? I just needed to vent
of course!! you know you can trust me 🤐
Two days passed. Priya got on with her work and tried to forget about the whole thing. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, she got a very unexpected email.
dani what is going on
I just got an email from HR asking me to come in for a meeting tomorrow morning
oh wow really? what does it say?
it just says "regarding a complaint about workplace conduct". that's it. nothing else
that's so vague... I'm sure it's nothing serious
conduct? what conduct? I haven't done anything wrong
yeah I'm sure it'll be fine!! try not to stress
...
Later that evening, Priya was still at her desk when she got a message from Marcus, a colleague she trusted but rarely talked to outside of work.
Hey Priya. I hope you don't mind me messaging you directly. There's something you should probably know.
hi Marcus... of course, what is it?
I overheard something near the HR office today. Someone sent them a screenshot. Of a private conversation. About Derek.
what
a screenshot of WHAT conversation
I don't know the details. But whoever sent it — it was someone Derek knows. I just thought you should be prepared for tomorrow.
thank you Marcus. I really appreciate you telling me
Good luck tomorrow. You'll be fine — just be honest.
Priya stared at her phone for a long moment. Then she went back to her chat with Dani.
hey. I need to ask you something directly and I need you to be honest with me
ok... what's wrong?
did you take a screenshot of our conversation from Monday and send it to HR
what?? no! of course not! why would I do that??
because HR has a screenshot of someone saying that Derek's CV was full of lies. the only person I said that to was you
priya I swear I didn't
ok wait
I think I know what happened. I'm so sorry. I need to explain
explain what exactly
ok I'm going to say this properly because I don't want to type it wrong. so... I didn't send the screenshot to HR. I didn't. but... I did show our conversation to my friend Jess from accounting? I just — I wanted someone else's opinion on the situation, you know? I didn't think she would do anything with it. I had no idea she's actually friends with Derek. I am so, so sorry Priya. I feel terrible. I should have never done that.
you showed it to someone else
I specifically said CANNOT TELL ANYONE
I know I know I know. I was so stupid. I'm really sorry
I have an HR meeting tomorrow because of this dani
I know. I'm going to go to HR myself tonight and explain that the context was completely private. that you were just upset and venting. I promise
please do that. and dani... I need some time after this ok
I understand. I'm sorry.
The next morning, Priya walked into the HR meeting with all her original project files saved on her phone — emails, drafts, timestamps. She had everything she needed.
sent these to the HR manager as proof. every email, every draft, every timestamp. they can see exactly who did the work.
How did it go?
it went... ok actually. better than I expected. I showed them all my files and the HR manager was really professional. she said the, um, the private nature of the original message was already taken into account — I think Dani must have gone in last night like she said. they're looking into the project credit issue now too, which — yeah, that's kind of big. I'm still shaken but... I think I'm going to be ok.
I'm really glad to hear that. You handled it well.
thanks Marcus. and thank you for warning me. I wouldn't have been ready without that
That's what colleagues are for. Good luck with the rest of it. 👍
Later that afternoon, a message arrived from Dani. Priya looked at it for a long moment before opening it.
I heard it went ok this morning. I'm so relieved for you. I know you need space and I get it. just wanted to say I'm truly sorry, and I understand if trust takes a long time to come back
yeah. it does.
but thank you for going in last night. that helped